Image stabilization by digital processing detects a motion vector between plural images which are photographed continuously, and position-adjusts and composes the images according to the motion vector.
In one method for detecting a motion vector, individual blocks of plural images are searched for motion vectors (local motion vectors) and one motion vector of the entire image is determined on the basis of the local motion vectors (refer to Patent Documents 1 and 2, for example).
However, since local motion vectors include erroneously-detected ones, it is desirable to evaluate each local motion vector and correct (vector-correct) it if necessary.
Incidentally, also Patent Document 2 discloses a vector correction method in which each local motion vector is compared with neighboring ones and, if the former is extremely different from the latter, the values of the former are replaced by those of the latter.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H7-38800
Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H7-231446